Recoil-neutralizer.



A. e. BUTTMAN-e F. RGABLE. RECOIL NEUTRALIZER.

APPLGATION FILED 00125, 19114 1()1"2',953a l Patented Feb.20,1912.

@Willa/l casco UNITED SUITES PATENT EWI@ ALONZO C. BUTTMAN AND FRANKLIN P. GABIiE, 0F GRANDVIEW, IOWA..

RECOIL-NEUTRALIZER.

To atl whom 'it may 'con-cern: l'

Be it known that we, ALONZO C. BUT'rMAN- and FRANKLIN P. GABLE, citizens of the United States, residing at Grandview, inthe county of Louisa and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RecoiLNeutralizers'; and we ldo declare' the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as willjy enable others skilled in the art to which it a'ppertains to make and use the same. I

This invention relates to vehicles, and? more especially to the springs thereof; andi the object of the same is to produce a device for neutralizing or overcoming lthe recoil or rebound of a spring after it has been com-j pressed.

It is well known that on vehicles of'y allI kinds, and especially on automobiles, the springs are designed with proportionate reference to the average roughness of the road and speed of driving, the known weight of' the body and superstructure, and the aver` age additional weight of the load, but as some of these conditions are changeable and as the tension of the leaves in the springs is constantly changing it is impossible to support an automobile body on its running gear y by any kind of springs whose action will be y the saine under all conditions and at all times. It is also well known to those familiar with the art that when a vehicle spring is broken it occurs almost invariably on the recoil or rebound after thefspring has been compressed. Shock-absorbers have` been ldevised to deaden or retard compres-l. sion, and efforts have also been made to;-

deaden or lretard the recoil; but as explained above the conditions are variable, changeable, and uncertain, and a neutralizer which would offset or retard the recoil at one time would not be successful at anothen It is therefore the purpose of the present invention to produce a spring recoil neutral. izer which will impede the compression of` Speclcatonof Letters Patent. Application inea october s, i911. serial naesaeee.

Patented Feb, 2e, 1912.

scribed and claimed, `and as shown inthe.

drawings wherein I Figure l is a rear elevation of an auto1nobile equipped with our device; Figi 2 is a side elevation and Fig. 3 a central vertical sectional view of the neutralizer on an enlarged scale Fig: 4 is a central longitudinal section and Fig. 5 an outer end view lof one of the relief'valves on a still larger scale;

Fig.` 6 is a .perspective detail showing the i e guiding means for the relief valve.

In the present embodiment of our inven tion We have shown it a's applied to therear axle A of an vautomobilewhose body B'is supported 'therefrom byl` any suitable type of springs S, those shown therein having 1 leaves as is common in semi-elliptical automobile springs. When one or both of the wheels 'TW pass over an obstruction the spring is compressed, the axle rises considerahly, the body rises a little and the jolt is not felt by the passengers-g but as soon as the obstruction has been passed'the' wheel and aXle descend, the spring resumes its former position whereas the 'body has meanwhile been elevated a little, this action of the spring therefore decreases its supporting power a little' just at the timewhen the ele vation of the body requires that it should be increased, and the result is that the body then forcibly and quickly, descends toward the axle occasioning what is called the rebound of the spring which throws greater 17 strain upon it than the bump that occurred when the wheel passed over the obstruction.v

the loadA carried is different on dilierent ocy,

casions; and it is the purpose of 'eur invention particularly to provide a recoil neutralizer having means for permitting ready adjustment to suit these conditions.

Coming now more particularly to the.

present invention, the numeral 1 designates an upright cylinder here shown as having a clamp 2 by which it is secured to the axle A, 3 .is a piston within said cylinder, and tis a rod moving through a stuling box 5 in the '7 with the bodyB as shown. The normal against a spider 2l carried by a cage 22. If

seat so that the air trapped in the upper end -rately constructed andfitted, the leakage head 6 of the cylinder and connected as at vacuum relief valve being lettered V and located adjacent the outlet valve O, and the pressure relief valve being lettered P and located adjacent the inlet valve I. As these valves are of almost identical construction, 70 ,we have illustrated only the pressure valve P in Figs. 4, and 6 The numeral designates the valve cage having ears 31 around r its inner end by which it is secured tothe side of the cylin- 75 der l over an opening 32 therein, and having a spider 33 in its outer end piercedv with a central threaded hole 34 and'with a smooth eye 35 in each arm of the spider.

The numeral 36 designates the valve head 80 which is closed normallyjagainst a seat 37 around said opening 32 by an expansive spring 38 whose inner end bears against the back of the head and whose outer end bears against a plate 39 which ts slidably within g5 the cage 30. 40 designates a screw-taking through the threaded hole 34 against the outer side of said plate so thatthe position ofthe latter and the tension of the spring may be adjusted, and 41 is a jam nut on a 90 screw for holding' the same against movement after it has been set.

In order that the Valve head 36 may not stick within the cage, it is provided with a series of pins 42 projecting outward from it` 95 and standing parallel with each other, and these pins pass through eyes 43 in the plate 3f) and then` through the eyes 35 in thespider 33. The construction of thevacuum relief valve V is'yery similar excepting that 10o its parts -are reversed. That is to say, the yseat 37 is at the 1outer end of a casing 30 the spring 38 is coiled around the screw 40 and both are withinthe pins 42', the spider 3,3 is carried at the inner endl of an open c'age 50, the plate 39" stands between said spider and the valve head, and the adjustl ment of the screw compresses the spring from its inner instead of its outer end. .Otherwise the construction '.of this valve is very 110 similar ttS that of the valve above described, save'lthat its head opens inwardly ol" its seat instead of outwardly. The addition of these relief valves to' the device above described produces the following result, when the ten- 1.15

position of the piston within the cylinder is best indicated in Fig. 3, and it will be obvious that when the spring is compressed the piston willdescend whereas if the wheel should drop into a hole and the. spring should open yet a little more than normal the piston might yet rise a little within the cylinder. Above the normal position of said pistion is an inlet valve I, and below said normal position is an outlet valve O, the specie construction of these valves being unimportant although by preference it is as follows. The inlet valve has -a head 10 pressed normally outward against its seat 14 by a spring 13 interposed between the valve and a spider 11 at the inner end of a cage 12. The outlet valve O is disposed in exactly the opposite position, but may yet be of like construction. That is to say, its valve head 2O is pressed normally inward against the seat 2 4 by a spring 23 whose outer end rests the outlet valve is disposed in the lower end of the cylinder 1 as shown it may be well to carry it downward somewhat as at 25 so as to surround the cage 22 and protect the same from injury; but by preference the inlet valve is located in an offset 16 from the side of the cylinder 1 at the upper end of the latter as shown in Fig. 3 and protected by a cross bar l5. Withthis construction, when an obstruction in the roadway is struck and the axle rises, the cylinder 1 moves upward while vthe piston 3 remains stationary, and relatively it descends with respect to the body of the cylinder so that the air therein is driven out the outlet valve whose head 2O is unseatedr by the compression occurring. Simultaneously the partial vacuum created above the piston will suck air inward through the lcage 12 of the inlet valve I, which cage is of suh'icient size to admit the air-freely. O'n the rebound, or when the piston begins tomfove upward with respect to the cylinder, the outlet valve closes imme-` diately so that a vacuum is formed beneath the piston and the sudden and dangerous recoil of the spring is prevented; and if by any chance the oiitlet valve should not close sutciently soon, the quick upward movemento'f the Apiston creates pressure above it and the inlet valve will be'closed against its sion of their sprlngs is properly adjusted: When the piston has descended within the cylinder and blown out the air. therein beneath said piston-and the latter begins-to ascend, the outlet valve O closes, the vacuum produced is slowly relieved by the opening of the vacuum relief valve- VA'. Simultaneously the pressure set up above said piston at this time (the inlet valve I being closed) is also slowly relieved by the pressure reliefvalve P. The independent means of adjusting these `tworelief valves permits the user to accommodate this improved recoil neutralizer to the. various conditions under which it will bel used, and in doing so he ofthe cylinder will form a cushion to prevent said recoil. y

If the parts above described were accupast the piston or through the outlet valve when closed would be so little thatafter the spring had been compressed it would open again' with extreme deliberation, and we .have therefore provided relief valves .in the cylinder at both sides of the piston, the

y:tornarse j i 3 may adjust the tension of one spring or the l other, or both. Assuming that he adjusts both screws 40 and 40 so that the two relief valve heads are held against their seats .v by extremely weak pressure of the two springs; as soon as the spring S has been confpressed and the piston 3 starts to reascend within the cylinder, the weak springs 38 and 38 will yield and air will be admitted below the piston and permitted to flow out above it so that it may rise rapidly and the parts will resume their' normal position quickly. On the other hand, assuming that both screws el() and 40 are set up so that the springs 38 and 38 are under considerable tension and the valves 36 and 36 are' heldiquite forcibly a ainst their seats; then when the piston 3 egins 4to reascend its movement will be checked, retarded, or rendered quite deliberate by reason of the fact that a considerable vacuum must be setup below it before the relief vacuum valve opens and aconsiderable pressure must be created above it before the relief pressure valve opens. Between these two extremes, he may of course adjust one valve tight and leave the other adjustedv loose, thereby putting onespring 38 under tension and leaving vthe other to exert weak pressure upon its valve head. But in any event it is our intention that the openings through the relief valves shall be much smaller than those through the main inlet and outlet valves so that, even when the relief springs are eX- tremely weak, the leakage of air through the relief valves will be relatively small as compared withthe volume of air above and beflow the piston 3. It will be seen that the ist of our invention, however, lies in the act that we rovide means for adjusting the tension ofp the relief springs so that the time at which the relief valves may open will be regulated to accommodate this neutralizer to various conditions under which it is to be used.

The precise details of construction may be varied-,considerably without departing from the spirit of our invention.' -v

.Wl/iat is claimed as new is:

l. In a recoil neutralizer, the combination with a cylinder connectedl with one member, a piston therein, a piston rod connected with the piston and extending through `the cylinder head and connected with another member, and a spring connect- 'ing said members'and whose recoil is to be neutralized; of an inlet valve opening inwardly into the .cylinder at one side ofthe piston, an outlet valve opening outwardly from the cylinder at the other side of the piston, relief valves of smaller capacity than said inlet. and outlet valvesand located adjacent thereto,'that near the vinlet valve opening outward from the cylinder and that near the outlet valve opening inward toward the same, and independent means for l' permitting the adjustment of said relief valves.

2. In a recoil neutralizer, the combination with aA cylinder 'connected with one member,`a piston therein, a piston rod connected with the piston and extending throughA the cylinder head and connected with another member, and a spring connecting said members and whose reco1l is to be neutralized; of an inlet valve opening inwardly into the cylinder at one side of the piston, yan outlet valve opening outwardly from the cylinder at the other side of the piston, a spring holding the inlet.valve normally closed, a spring holding the outlet valve normally closed, a relief valve near 'the inlet valve opening outward from the cylinder and a relief valve near theoutlet valve opening inward toward the same, springs holding said relief valves normally closed, and screws for independently ad- Q Y said inlet and outlet valves and located respectively adjacent thereto, that near the inlet valve opening outward from the cylinder and that near the outlet valve opening inward toward the same, springs holding said relief valves. normally closed, and screws for independently adjusting the tension of said springs.

4. In a recoil neutralizer, the combination with a cylinder connected with one member; a piston therein, a piston rod connected with the piston and extending through the cylinder head and connected with another member, and a spring connecting' said members and whose recoil 1s to be neutrallzed; of an inlet valve openlng inwardly into the cylinder at one side of the piston,

an outlet valve opening outwardly' from the cylinder at the other sidebfthe piston, a spring holding the outlet valve"'normally closed, a relief valve of smaller vcapacity I than the outlet valve and located adjacent thereto and opening inwardly into the cylinder, a spring therefor of less power than that controlling the outlet valve, a tension plate for controlling the tension of this spring, and a screw for permitting the manual adjustment of said plate.

5. In a .recoil neutralizer, the combination with a cylinder connected with one memv ber a piston therein, a piston rod connected with the piston and extending through the cylinder head and connected with another member, and a `spring connecting said members `and Whose recoil is to be neutralized; of an inlet valve opening inwardly into the cylinder at one side of the piston, a springholding the inlet valve normally closed, an outlet valve opening outwardly from the cylinder at the other side of the piston, a relief valve adjacent the inlet valve and openingv outward from'the cylinder, its capacity being less than that of said inletvalve, a relatively Weak spring Valve normally able means for spring.

In testimony set our hands in closed, and manual DANIEL ANTHONY.

holding this ly oper- 15 adjusting the tension of said whereof We have hereunto presence of two subscribing 

